Novichok

source:Le Monde
translation: doxa-louise

What is Novichok, the Soviet neurotoxic substance?

Two British citizens were exposed tro this substance, near the city
where two months earlier the ex Russian (double)agent Serguei Skripal was
poisoned.

Two British citizens were found in critical condition, in Amesbury
(Wiltshire,Great-Britain), after exposure to Novitchok, that very poison
used four months earlier against an ex Soviet spy, Serguei Skripal, and
his daughter, in the neighboring city of Salisbury.

How does it work?

Novitchok belongs to a very dangerous family of nerve gases. It 'results in a
slowing down of heart rhythm and an obstruction of breathing airways until
death occurs' explains to Reuters professor Gary Stephens, pharmacologist at
the university of reading (Berkshire).

In activity, this poison halts cholinesterase, an enzyme which allows the nervous
system to communicate with muscles; because of this problem with 'transmission',
the victim can no longer breathe.

Specialists know of liquid versions ( a colorless fluid which can be mixed in with food
or thrown at the skin) and solids ( an ultra fine powder inhaled through the nose, or
via patches on the skin) of Novitchok.

How dangerous?

Depending on how it is administered, first symptoms can manifest between thirty seconds
and two minutes after administration, according to "Responding to Terrorism: a Medical
Handbook".

Even though emergency treatment can save the person before the heart stops, the
lack of oxygen can causes irreversible damage to the brain.

Novitchok isconsidered more lethal by a factor of five to ten  than the other two
well-known nerve gases: Sarin gas (used by the regime of Bachar Al-Assad against
his adversarie in Syria) and VX (responsible for the death of the half-brother of the North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un), according to American diplomats.

Where does this poison come from?

Novichok, whose name means "new-born little one", was developed by researchers
for the USSR during the 1970s and 1980s, in the context of the program Foliant.
This work was a major strategic effort for Moscow: looking good in discussions limiting
chemical armement, while secretly developing superpowerful nerve gases, resistant to
any known antidote.

Drugs from the Novichok family were composed of ingredients permited individually,
who only became dangerous when combined.This charactersitic was doubly advantageous:
the ingredients could be transported securely to the site where they could be assembled, and
they were quasi impossible to detect if anyone tried to investigate.

Work on Novitchok continued even after the USSR agreed to end its chemical arms
program, and its exisence was only discovered by the international community because of
defectors in the 1990s.

At the end of the Cold War, Russia played along by asking for the help of the
United States in dismantling its arsenal of chemical wesapons, as told by the American
organization Nuclear Threat Initiative. Moscow chose to break this patnership in 2012,
which fostered doubts about the sincerity of their commitment. Officially, Russia is meant to
complete the dismantling of its arsenal by December 2020.

What were the repurcussions of these poisonings?

The British government views this latest instance of poisonings in Amesbury "very
seriously". A special meeting was convened, Thursday July 5, of the Cabinet, and the
antiterrorism police continues to investigate.

The Skripal Affair had provoked a major diplomatic crisis. Britian and its allies attributed
the assasination attempt to Russia,which denied everything. This led to a major round of
crossed expulsions of Russian and Western diplomats.